Gadiza Saaidi is someone with an extensive background in media and retail media, spending more than three years at Dentsu International and more than five years at Ahold Delhaize-owned Albert Heijn, the Netherlands’ largest supermarket chain. There, she began as a Strategic Media Consultant before taking on the role of Manager, Retail Media Strategy.
In 2026, Saaidi co-founded Qannas Group, a strategic consultancy specializing in retail media, digital commerce and marketing efficiency, and also took on the role of Retail Media Lead, Benelux at Unilever. In an in-depth conversation, Saaidi told Retail Media Age about how her path led her to retail media, as well as how her Moroccan roots inform her view of data, and the tipping point that she sees ahead in the Benelux retail media space.
What is your role and what does it entail?
I’m the co-founder of Qannas Group, which I founded together with Samir El Kasmi (Founder Kasmifood). We came together from two complementary sides of the ecosystem: Samir with a strong background as an advertiser and myself with experience across retail and agency environments. From these different perspectives, we consistently observed the same structural pattern: retail media was evolving quickly, but the ecosystem itself was not evolving at the same pace in terms of integration, measurement, data collaboration and shared understanding across stakeholders.
We created Qannas to help accelerate that evolution. Our focus is on helping mature the retail media ecosystem by enabling brands, retailers, agencies and media partners to operate in a more connected, data-driven and context-aware way.
A big part of this is education and capability building: helping organisations understand not just what retail media is today, but what it needs to become in its next phase of development. In practice, this means combining strategic advisory with practical frameworks and capability models that translate complexity into clarity.
Alongside Qannas, I am currently working with Unilever in the Benelux as Retail Media Lead, where I support the shaping and driving of the retail media strategy across key markets. In this role, I work closely with retailers, media partners and internal brand teams to strengthen how Unilever brands show up within retail media ecosystems, with a strong focus on effectiveness, collaboration and long-term growth impact.
Across both contexts, our focus is the same: building stronger connections between media, data and commerce, and helping organisations understand retail media not as a channel, but as a fundamental driver of business growth.
How did you first become interested in retail media and move into it as a career?
My interest in retail media didn’t start with retail media itself. It started much earlier with data, context and how decisions are made based on information.
I was born and raised in the Netherlands, but my roots are from Morocco, originally from the Sahara region. Growing up with that background gave me a different appreciation of what “data” really means. For my ancestors, data was not abstract or theoretical; it was essential for survival. Without understanding signals in their environment, patterns of movement, context and timing, they would not have been able to navigate and survive in the desert. In that sense, data has always been deeply embedded in how decisions are made in my family history; not as numbers, but as knowledge and awareness of context.
That way of thinking naturally translated into my professional journey.
When I joined Dentsu as a strategist and consultant, I was working with large A-brands on their broader media and commerce strategies, helping them understand how media investment connects to business outcomes across media, retail and digital ecosystems. At the time, AHOLD (including Albert Heijn, BOL, Etos and Gall&Gal) was one of our key clients, which gave me a front-row perspective on how retailers were starting to evolve from transactional partners into more media- and data-driven ecosystems.
What stood out to me was that retail media was not simply an extension of digital marketing, but a structural shift in how commerce, media and data come together. It was less about channels and placements and more about decision-making, measurement and understanding consumer behaviour across the entire purchase journey.
At the same time, I was actively following international developments, particularly in the US, where retail media was already more advanced and commercially structured. Combined with the thinking of early industry voices, it became clear that this was not a local evolution, but a global transformation in how commerce ecosystems operate.
From that moment, it became less about whether I would move into retail media and more about how I could help shape and build it in the region, bridging brand, retail and media perspectives in a more connected and data-driven way.
What most excites you about the industry today – particularly in Benelux – and about what might happen next in retail media?
What excites me most about retail media today is that we are moving from experimentation to true ecosystem building. Over the past few years, retail media has evolved from being a tactical, performance-driven channel into something that increasingly sits at the intersection of media, commerce and data strategy. But we are not there yet.
In the Benelux specifically, what makes the space so interesting is that we are at a tipping point. On one hand, we have highly advanced retailers and brands that are already pushing the boundaries of retail media capabilities. On the other hand, the ecosystem is still fragmented in terms of measurement standards, data collaboration and cross-retailer scalability. That tension creates a lot of opportunity for acceleration and innovation. The Netherlands is more ahead on retail media than Belgium, though.
What I believe we will see next is a shift away from retail media being defined by inventory and channels, towards it being defined by outcomes and decision moments. The focus will move from “where do we activate?” to “how do we influence the consumer journey across touchpoints, both online and in-store, in a connected way?”
At the same time, we will see a much stronger convergence between retail media, broader commerce media and data collaboration models. The organisations that will lead the next phase are the ones that are able to align strategy, measurement and execution across these layers, rather than treating them as separate disciplines.
This is also where we see a lot of opportunity for our company Qannas Group: helping bridge that gap between ambition and execution and helping the industry move from fragmented activation thinking towards more integrated, outcome-driven commerce systems.
What retail media campaign or strategy that you’ve been involved in are you most proud of?
Rather than one single campaign, what I’m most proud of is the broader body of work across different sides of the ecosystem.
One of the key contributions has been helping define and operationalise what I often refer to as the “Golden Retail Triangle”: the alignment between retailer, advertiser and media agency capability. In practice, this meant moving away from siloed ways of working where trade, media and ecommerce operated separately, towards a more integrated approach where these disciplines reinforce each other around shared business outcomes.
At retailer level, for example, I’ve been involved in helping shape new retail media propositions, including the development of sponsored product formats and self-service platforms. The goal was not just to launch new inventory, but to make retail media more accessible, scalable and performance-driven for brands and agencies.
From a brand and agency perspective, a big part of the work has also been about education and adoption helping teams understand that retail media should not be treated as a standalone channel, but as an integral part of the broader omnichannel media mix. This required shifting mindsets, building test-and-learn approaches, and creating frameworks that allow for both accountability and flexibility in execution.
What makes me most proud is not a single activation, but the fact that these approaches consistently led to strong commercial outcomes, improving performance, strengthening collaboration between stakeholders and proving that retail media works best when it is treated as a connected system rather than a collection of isolated placements.
Who is your biggest inspiration in the retail media sector and why?
I have been fortunate to work with and learn from a number of people across the retail media ecosystem, but two individuals stand out because of the different ways they shaped my thinking.
The first is Harry Dekker, during his time at Unilever. From the early days of retail media becoming more structured around 2020, he consistently challenged us to think beyond activation and towards a more data-driven and measurement-led approach. What I valued most was his ability to see retail media not just as a media opportunity, but as a strategic partnership model between brands, retailers and media agencies.
He was also open to exploring new ways of working and collaboration models, and was a strong sparring partner in shaping and challenging ideas such as the “Golden Retail Triangle” that I developed to better describe the necessary alignment between these three parties. Having someone who understands the complexity of the ecosystem while still pushing for commercial impact was incredibly valuable in shaping how I think about the discipline today.
The second is Maurits Priem, during my early time at Albert Heijn in 2020. He gave me the space and trust to really explore and build within retail media at a time when it was still emerging. What stood out to me was his openness to entrepreneurship within a large corporate environment. He recognised the potential of retail media early and supported the idea of building something meaningful together with Albert Heijn and the broader AHOLD ecosystem. That freedom allowed me to experiment, test ideas and ultimately help shape some of the early foundations of retail media within the organisation.
Both perspectives were important in reinforcing and shaping how I already looked at the industry. I had always approached media, retail and commerce from a more integrated and outcome-driven perspective, but these experiences helped sharpen that thinking further in practice.
One reinforced the importance of measurement, data and partnerships at scale; the other gave me the space to build and test ideas in a real-world retail environment. That combination has been fundamental in how I approach retail media today.
Read more about how industry leaders got their start in retail media in our My Road to Retail Media series.
